Animals think much while building their houses

Animals think much while building their houses. The bird searches for what it can use in building its nest, and in doing this it thinks. The beavers1 think as they build their dams and their houses. They think in getting their materials, and also in arranging them, and in plastering2 them together with mud. Some spiders build houses which could scarcely have been made except by some thinking creature.       As animals think, they learn. Some learn more than others. The parrot learns to talk, though in some other respects it is quite stupid. The mocking3 bird learns to imitate a great many different shounds. The horse is not long in learning many things connected with the work which he has to do. The shepherd dog does not know as much about most things as some other dogs, and yet he understands very well how to take care of sheep.       Though animals think and learn, they do not make any real improvement in their ways of doing things, as men do. Each kind of bird has its own way of building a nest, and it is always the same way. And so (it is true)of other animals. They have no new fashions, and learn none from each other. But men, as you know, are always finding new ways of building houses, and improved methods of doing almost all kinds of labor4.       Many of the things that animals know how to do(object.) they(subject.) seem to know(v.) either without learning, or in some way which we cannot understand. They are said to do such things by instinct; but no one can tell what instinct is. It is by this instinct that birds build their nests and beavers their dams and huts. If these things were all planned and thought out just as men plan new houses, there would be some changes in the fashions of them, and some improvements.       I have spoken of the building instinct of beavers. An English gentleman caught a young one and put him at first in a cage. After a while he let him out in a room where there was a great variety of things. As soon as he was let out he began to exercise his building instinct. He gathered together whatever he could find, brushes, baskets, boots, clothes, sticks, bits of coal, etc., and arranged them as if to build a dam. Now,(语气词) if he had had his wits about(around) him, he would have known that there was no use in building a dam where there was no water.       It is plain that, while animals learn about things by their senses as we do, they do not think nearly as much about what they learn, and this is the reason why they do not improve more rapidly. Even the wisest of them, as the elephant and the dog, do not think very much about what they see and hear. Nor   is this all. There are some things that we understand, but about which animals know nothing. They have no knowledge of anything that happens outside of their own observation. Their minds are so much unlike ours that they do not know the difference between right and wrong.               Engaged in these sports.   In this respect/aspect/   physical labor—blue collar   Mental labor—white collar       It is said/reported/believed/well-known/estimated   I got a bad cold yesterday   It is me who got a bad cold yesterday.   It is a bad cold that I got yesterday.   It is yesterday that I got a bad cold.   Clear, obviously   So am i.    Now am I   Neither am i.   I like jazz. So does my brother.   I don’t I like smoking.   Nor does my brother.   neirther

1 beavers   

海狸( beaver的名词复数 )； 海狸皮毛； 棕灰色； 拼命工作的人

参考例句：

• In 1928 some porpoises were photographed working like beavers to push ashore a waterlogged mattress. 1928年有人把这些海豚象海狸那样把一床浸泡了水的褥垫推上岸时的情景拍摄了下来。
• Thus do the beavers, thus do the bees, thus do men. 海狸是这样做的，蜜蜂是这样做的，人也是这样做的。

2 plastering   

n.涂以灰泥，石膏工艺

参考例句：

• Sue's cousin was plastering the ceiling in a dank basement. 苏的表弟当时正在一间潮湿的地下室抹房顶。 来自互联网
• For a really smooth surface, use a plastering float. 要想获得真正光滑的表面，请使用灰泥抹子。 来自互联网

3 mocking   

挖苦； 为消遣而模仿

参考例句：

• He's always mocking my French accent. 他总是嘲笑我的法国口音。
• Her voice was faintly mocking. 她的声音略带一丝嘲弄。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。